


I Remember The Color Of The Sea

by DontGetTooCloseItsDarkInside



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Blind!Nico, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Good Sister Hazel, Human AU, Humor, Lame Dirty Jokes, M/M, Past Character Death, Possible smut, Sassy Nico, Teen Angst, most of which are made by Hazel, past bullying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-05
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-01-18 06:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1418396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DontGetTooCloseItsDarkInside/pseuds/DontGetTooCloseItsDarkInside
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico di Angelo hadn't always been blind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this was supposed to be just one enormous one shot, but I decided to make it into a full length story, though even then it shouldn't be more then a few chapters since I already have a SNK fic I'm working on and a PJO/SNK crossover fic. 
> 
> I assure you Its not as angst y as I make it seem in the tags, though it does get pretty sad when Nico wallows in all his teen angst and his tragic past

Nico di Angelo hadn’t always been blind.

 

On the contrary in the first ten years of his life he had had very good eye sight.  But as said, that stopped when he was ten years old.

 

He was a tiny thing really, ebony hair ruffled and short, brown eyes sparkling with laughter as he crawled into the backseat of his mother’s silver Honda. His sister, Bianca, had stuck her tongue out at him as she got into the front, she was thirteen, and their mother had finally allowed her to sit in the front seat.

 

They had been going upstate to Maine for a weekend trip, leaving Long Island on a sunny Saturday morning. Nico sat in the back seat, humming to the Frank Sinatra that was flowing out of the speakers and filling the car. His mother was obsessed with everything 1940’s related to the war to the music and Nico seemed to share that trait, though Bianca could care less.

 

None of them had seen the truck coming. It had been their turn on the seemingly empty streets, they were heading through country  to get out of Long Island and onto the highway, Nico remembered seeing a big hill and strawberry fields to his right. He could see the twinkle of the sea behind those fields, sea green and sparkling like a giant crystal in the sunlight. He remembered thinking how beautiful it was, the sea, when he felt the impact. His head slammed against the window and he lost consciousness at once.

 

When he woke up he couldn’t see a thing. He was awake, his eyes were open, but he couldn’t see a damn thing. He sat up and started screaming and then screamed even louder when unknown hands grabbed him and tried to calm him down.

 

Something sharp stabbed his arm when he wouldn’t stop and he fell asleep again. When he woke up again, he still couldn’t see, but he heard a voice he did recognize, though barely. His father.

 

His mother and father had never been married, though they had been together for several years before they separated permanently. Nico had met his father several times in his short life, and had once met his father’s wife Persephone, who he had married a year or so after Nico had been born.

 

His father held his hand, Hades hand was cold and thin, while Nico’s was tiny and chubby and warm. He held his sons hand and explained to him what had happened. They had been hit by a eighteen wheeler delivering to a camp nearby. His mother and sister had died on impact, but Nico hadn’t. Nico had just hit his head and something…something wasn’t right. His head was fine…but his eyes. Nico was blind, something was dislodged, something was broken, and they weren’t sure if he would ever see again. Maybe one day, father had said, we can have some surgeries performed when you’re older.

 

Nico moved into his father’s house back on Long Island. He was told it was on the beach, and he could certainly hear that it was on the beach, but he couldn’t…he couldn’t see a thing.

 

Most days, Nico laid in bed in his room by himself, his eyes closed. Pretending, just pretending that he couldn’t see because his eyes were clamped shut, if he opened them right now he could see surely, surely he would open them and he would see Bianca’s beautiful smiling face, his mother walking around their little home in her forties styled dresses, it would be navy blue, or maybe black. With a string of pearls to go along with it.

 

But he couldn’t see. His lay in bed and cried. Cried because his mother was dead, because Bianca was dead, because he couldn’t see anymore, because everything he had had before was gone, and he didn’t even have eyes to see what he had now.

 

A year later when he was eleven, he got a new sister. Apparently during one of Maria and Hades separations his father had gone down to New Orleans and had a brief relationship with a woman named Marie, nine months later, she had a baby. Hades had already gone back to Long Island  and had gotten back together with Maria for the last time.

 

Marie had died in an avalanche in Alaska on an expedition for digging up jewels.

 

His new sister’s name was Hazel. And she was perfect.

 

He wished he could have known what she looked like, she sounded beautiful, not that beauty had ever really mattered to Nico when it came to people before. What did he care if the girl he played with at recess was chubby or not? What did he care if the boy he sat next to in class had nice clothes or hand me downs? Why did it matter? It didn’t, not to him, and he often wondered why it mattered to anybody else.

 

His other senses, touch, hearing, smell and taste had intensified since he had lost his sight. He knew everything about his sister besides what she looked like. He knew Hazel smelled like hay and sunflowers, he knew her skin was softer then cotton, he knew her laugh reached the pitch of wind chimes, and surprisingly, he knew she tasted like coco butter due to accidentally licking her arm once.

 

One day, when they were twelve, Nico asked Hazel what she looked like so he could picture her. She said she was African American and she had very curly hair. Nico wanted to know more, he asked his father what Hazel looked like, he asked Persephone what Hazel looked like. He now knew his sisters very curly hair was the color of cinnamon, that her eyes were a light, rich gold, that she was an inch shorter then him, that she had a little button nose, that she flapped her hands in her face when she was embarrassed. He knew she liked wearing flower printed dresses and pastel colored bows in her hair.

 

Nico decided his sister was the most beautiful girl in the entire world.

………………

Nico started school at Olympus Academy in October, a few weeks before Halloween.

 

Up until then he had been home schooled by special tutors due to his lack of being able to see anything. But then his step mother and his father had a huge blow out fight over all the money they were spending on those special tutors. Persephone felt it was a waste, she didn’t see why he couldn’t go to the private school Hazel went too. Hades argued that he was happy to spend that money on his son’s education especially because he aced everything he did and already had colleges at his throat even though he was just fourteen. In the end, Persephone won, and Nico was being shipped off to a private school half way across Long Island.

 

Hazel was thrilled, especially because the school had allowed them to dorm together. She always called him, almost every day, during the school year telling him how much she missed him, often at the edge of tears. She always fretted about Nico being all alone in that big house with no one to talk to when his tutors were gone for the day. She couldn’t come home every weekend, even though she tried often too.

 

He still remembered holding his cell phone a foot away from his ear as she screamed about how exited she was to have him with her. He would get to spend more time with Frank, he would get to meet her friends, the teachers were excited to have him, he listened with a frown as she went on and on about those subjects.

 

And now he was sitting in the back of his father’s limousine being driven to the school. He was tempted to ask the driver, who was also his father s right hand, what everything looked like as they drove past it, but kept silent, Hazel would tell him. Hazel always told him when he asked.

 

When they stopped at the gates he sat in the back in silence, rummaging around in his coat pocket for his medication. His fingers wrapped around the bottle of Xanax and he quickly took off the lid and slipped a pill into his mouth, swallowing with a mouthful of water and quickly putting the bottle back in his pocket.

 

Nico had an anxiety disorder, whether it being from not being able to see or the car crash or the fact he wasn’t used to being around people the doctors weren’t sure, all they knew was that he had one and it had spiked  horribly when he had learned he was moving into this new school. Now he was supposed to be taking two pills a day, and was allowed to take an extra one if he felt extremely on edge. This had been his extra one, and it wasn’t even noon.

 

They pulled in past the gates and Nico jerked forward. He sighed and laid down on the seat, closing his eyes tightly. He didn’t sit up, not even when the door opened.

 

“Master Nico?” the driver asked in worry.

 

“I’m fine, Thanatos.” He sighed, he sat up in his seat, shaking his head so his bangs were out of his eyes.

 

He sat there for a moment.

 

“Sir?”

 

He sighed and stepped out of the car, he could hear people around him, far away peals of laughter, people calling out for their friends, the loud chatter of some girls. Students mulling around campus on a Saturday afternoon, a sunny, unnaturally warm autumn afternoon, he could hear leaves traveling over the grass, boots running over trails of stone.

 

“Fancy place Than?”

 

“I would say so, sir.” The driver snorted.

 

“Perfect.” He said sarcastically.

 

“Come along, sir. I’ll have somebody fetch your luggage inside.”

 

Nico sighed and grasped the driver’s strong arm. “And how many times do I have to shout at you before you stop calling me sir? I’m fourteen for god’s sake.”

 

Thanatos snorted again and said nothing, leading him briskly up a case of stairs and threw a pair of double doors. The warm hair hit him and he let out a sigh of relief, unraveling the maroon scarf from around his neck and letting it hang on his and Thanatos clasped arms.

 

He was led across a marble floor and up to a grand wooden desk that had fabulous pictures of Greek mythology carved into them, the walls were bright blue silks. Of course he couldn’t see any of those things there, rather he smelled the polish that had been used to clean the floors, ran his fingers over the carvings as he stood by the desk.

 

“Hello, my name is Gwen.” Said a chipper voice. “Welcome to the Big House, front building of Olympus Academy, how may I help you?”

 

“Hello.” Thanatos said, his young voice turning deep and husky. She must have been pretty. “I’m escorting Nico di Angelo he’s-“

 

“Oh of course!” the girl chirped. “One moment please. CHIRON, NICO DI ANGELO IS HERE!” Nico and Thanatos reeled back slightly at her loud, booming voice. A moment later Nico heard the sound of machine operated wheel chair wheels and someone approaching from his right.

 

“Hello, Mr. di Angelo.” A pleasant, intelligent man’s voice welcomed. “I’m Chiron, director and assistant headmaster of Olympus Academy please allow me-Sherman? Mark? Gather Mr. di Angelo’s bags from the car and bring them to his dorm.” The man paused. “I’ll take him from here.” He said to Thanatos.

 

The driver turned to Nico. “Sir are you sure-“

 

“Of course.” He paused, turned them both away from the man in the wheelchair then muttered. “Be ready for an escape mission at any moment of any day.”

 

“Of course, sir.” Thanatos muttered back and they turned back. “Well goodbye sir, I’ll see you at in a few weeks.”

 

“Now.” Chiron said. “How about we go find your sister? I do believe I saw her somewhere on the grounds earlier.”

….

Nico held onto the back panel of Chiron’s chair as they walked through the grounds in front of the Big House. Chiron told him all about the academics, the clubs, the student concerts, avoiding anything that had to do with well…seeing. He gave Nico a brief lay out of the lands, the buildings formations, the dorms, the main school building. There was the Big House, then the actual Olympus Academy a little ways behind it, then a handful of dorm buildings. He told Nico about the gardens, the river, the brooks and streams in the woods, all the trees. His teachers, his classes, the material blah blah blah, Nico listened though, wishing he could spot out Hazel. He was slightly upset, if he was being honest, that she hadn’t been waiting for him to arrive, but then decided that wasn’t fair, it wasn’t Hazel’s job to look after him, she would already be doing that for the rest of the year.

 

“NICO!”

 

Nico startled at the large squeal of his name, turning to his left where he was sure the noise had come from, he could hear his sister cussing loudly as she made the way across the grass in her Oxford Pumps, yup definitely the left. The heels clattered against the stone as she walked over briskly.

 

“Sweetheart how are you?” she cooed at once, throwing her arms around him and holding him close, he buried his nose into her neck as he hugged back, taking in her comforting sunflower sent.

 

“Magnificent.” He replied sarcastically.

 

“You’re gonna love it here.” She assured him as she pulled away, running a hand over his dark curls.

 

He let out a sigh and stood quietly at her side as they bid Chiron their goodbyes, as soon as the man was gone, she grabbed his hand.

 

“Come on Nico, I want you to meet my friends!”

 

He kept his feet firmly on the ground, almost making her fall. “W-wait.” He said anxiously.

 

Hazel stopped. “What’s wrong hun?”

 

“I um…I forgot my sunglasses at dad’s house.” He told her, anxiously. “I don’t want to meet new people all…exposed.” He said with a wince.

 

“Nico.” Hazel said gently. “Your eyes look fine, actually, they look beautiful in this light, and did you know they have shades of gold in them?”

 

“Hazel.” He almost whimpered. “I can’t, I feel-I feel nauseous you know I hate-“

“It’s okay,” Hazel said, cupping the side of his face. “These are my friends; they know all about you, I promise, they really wanna meet you.”

 

Nico snorted. “Yeah, everyone wants to be best friends with the blind kid.” He muttered under his breath almost bitterly. He hadn’t had a friend besides Hazel since he could see.

 

“Nico!” Hazel said, voice exasperated. “They’re not like those mean kids who-never mind. Their nice, I promise. You already know Frank, you like Frank don’t you?”

 

“He’s alright enough for me not to want to strangle him.” Nico said with a shrug.

 

Hazel laughed at him. “Dork.”

 

“And I miss Cerberus.” He pouted, he loved his seeing eye dog, he was the only person he had at home for company. What would he even do at home with Nico gone? He was probably sitting around, waiting for Nico to come back, wondering where his master had gone without him, fretting over how Nico would get along without him at his side.

 

“I know,” Hazel sighed. “Dad’s still fighting Mr. D on allowing him into the school.”

 

“I can’t see shit! I need him.” Nico complained.

 

“You have me at least.” Hazel muttered meekly.

 

Nico paused. “Don’t say ‘at least’ like you don’t know what a great comfort you are to me, sister.”

 

Hazel kissed his cheek. “I love you.”

 

“I love you too.” Nico muttered.

 

“Now come on!” She grabbed his hand and took advantage of his weakened state to haul him off the path and onto the grass.

 

“Wait Hazel stop! Who are we meeting-where are we going-please I don’t like surprises,” he whispered frantically, digging his heels into the dirt.

 

Hazel sighed. “Alright. We’re meeting my friends, Frank, Leo, Reyna, Piper, Annabeth, Percy, and Jason. Jason and Piper are dating and Leo’s dating a girl named Calypso from Greece. Annabeth and Percy used to date but don’t even bring it up because they hate talking about that disaster and Reyna has a crush on a boy named Ethan while Annabeth likes his friend Austin who are both friends with Luke, who’s dating Jason’s sister Thalia, who’s also my friend.”

 

Nico blinked. “Jesus Christ, I didn’t want their entire fucking life story.”

 

Hazel snorted. “Just updating you on the latest gossip. Now, their waiting for us about six feet away and heard everything I just said.”

 

“Hazel!” he shrieked.

 

“Say hi guys!” Hazel squealed.

 

“Hi!” several voices responded.

 

“Where the hell is Perseus?” Hazel asked.

 

“Sleeping in like a bum. As usual.” A girl voice responded, her tone clearly disapproving.

 

Nico would have taken an interest in the conversation, sleeping in? Hell yeah that was all him, but he was pretty sure he was having an anxiety attack so he didn’t.

 

“Hey Nico,” Frank said cheerfully.

 

“Hello Frank.” He said with a sniff.

 

“How are you?”

 

“Well I’ve been taken out of the safety of my home, my anxiety medication isn’t working and my sister is a jerk who takes advantage of my blindness  and shoves me into situations I’m not comfortable with so I’m doing fucking wonderful.”

 

“He’s everything you said he would be, Hazel.” A guy’s voice chuckled, it was bright and energetic sounding, it wasn’t Frank, but he felt like he had heard it before, probably on the other side of Hazel’s cell phone at one time or another.

 

Hazel chuckled nervously and grabbed Nico’s hand and began steering him to the seat she had left open for him in the large circle they were laid out in.

 

She put him on Frank’s right and then helped him down and told him there was a tree behind him, Nico leaned against it and crossed his arms over his small chest as Hazel sat down next to him, tucking her legs underneath her and flattening out her dress.

 

“Frank’s to your left.” Hazel muttered to him so he would know, he nodded and then turned to what he hoped was the general direction of his face, Hazel softly tightened her grip on his hand so he knew it was.

 

“What exactly has she been saying about me?” he asked him, narrowing his eyes and putting on his most menacing look.

 

Frank cleared his throat. He was intimidated. Wonderful. “Um…Grumpy.”

 

Nico turned his sightless gaze to his sister. “Oh really?”

 

“A cute grumpy.” Hazel said innocently.

 

“I’m not cute, don’t call me cute.” He said strictly, trying to copy the harsh, dark tone of his father, he liked it pretend that it worked.

 

Hazel wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed the side of his head. “I’m your sister I call you whatever I like.”

 

“You jerk.” He muttered affectionately, Hazel giggled into his wavy hair and kissed his cheek one last time; he chuckled and pushed her off, wiping the sticking lip gloss off of his cheek and taking out a handkerchief to wipe at his now glossy hand.

 

“Why are you wearing makeup?” Nico muttered, nose wrinkling. “You don’t need makeup.”

 

“Because I like it.” Hazel said, rolling her eyes fondly at her amused friends.  “And how do you know that I don’t need makeup, you don’t even know what I look like.”

 

“Don’t patronize me.” Nico scowled. “You’re too beautiful to wear makeup; you don’t need all that gunky shit ruining your clear skin.”

 

“Once again, how do you know that I’m beautiful? And how do you even know if my skin is clear?” Hazel teased.

 

Nico put his hands to her head and felt her face, Hazel just sat there and allowed him to do it, used to her brother doing this. He felt with his hands that her hair was hanging loose around her shoulders and it was a little frizzy with all the wind, he felt the mascara on her eyelashes and the lip gloss against her lips again, he felt her clear, blemish less skin.

 

“Fucking mascara, a bunch of clumpy shit.” Nico said, wiping his hands again and releasing his sister.

 

“Well not everyone can have natural mascara model eyelashes like you Nico.” Hazel said, sending her brothers, long, curled, thick black eyelashes an envious glare.

 

“Well duh I’m naturally breathtaking; bitches like you need to work for it.” Nico mocked, ruffling her hair, he heard several stifled giggles around the circle, including Hazel’s.

 

“Your so gay, Nico.” Hazel teased only so he could hear and he elbowed her sharply in the side to silence her, no one was supposed to know about that, Hazel had actually figured it out by accident. They had been up at a beach in Cape Cod and he had asked her what the guys playing volleyball or some shit looked like. She had begun describing them before looking at him sharply, eyeing his glossed over, and dreamy expression.

 

_“Oh my god Nico,” Hazel muttered, stifling an exited squeal. “Are you picturing what they look like right now?” she put a hand over her mouth so her giggling wouldn’t catch any attention from said men._

_Nico flushed, silently blaming it on the hot as hell sun, and looked in his sister’s general direction. “N-no of course not, I was just wondering about the scenery.”_

_“I already told you what it looked like.” Hazel gushed, sitting up on her knees and grabbing one of his small, pale hands, she leaned forward excitedly. “Oh my gods Nico do you like guys?”_

_Nico flinched. “Don’t tell dad.” He whispered fearfully._

_“Dad wouldn’t care,” Hazel whispered, barely being able to contain her excitement and surprise. “Wait-wait wait, how the hell do you even know that you like guys?”_

_Nico flushed a little brighter, and opened his mouth only to gape at her like a fish. He closed his jaw and nibbled at his bottom lips before trying again. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “I mean there was boys in elementary school I used to think were cute and whenever I….you know, I always think about guys. Like, what they smell like, and scruff against my cheeks and-oh gods never mind Hazel.” He said, getting flustered thinking about it._

_“Alright alright,” Nico didn’t know it but Hazel was grinning broadly at him. “But….just one question,” she pleated._

_“What?”_

_“When you say cheeks what cheeks do you mean?”_

_“What do you-oh my god Hazel!” he shrieked, affectively getting the attention of the entire beach._

Hazel was gigging loudly at him. “Hey Nico, what cheeks? Nico, what cheeks?” He put his head in his hands and groaned as Hazel started hysterically laughing.

 

“What’s the joke?” another voice asked from behind them, Nico turned a little even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to see, it was nice voice, young and warm and amused and god, kind of sexy.

 

“Percy!” Hazel said, “Good to see you’re finally woke your butt up! This is my brother Nico, gimme your hand Nico,” she grabbed his hand and in a moment it was being interlocked with another hand that certainly wasn’t Hazel’s, it was lean and long and had strong fingers, it held his for a moment before releasing him and he could almost feel a dazzling smile being set down to him.

 

“Nice to meet you Nico.” The warm, amused voice said.

 

“You too.” He muttered, putting his head down so he was facing his laugh, he heard a soft chuckle and felt the air move as Percy moved past him to sit at the other side of the circle.

 

In the back of his mind he knew he was screwed.

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hazel makes Nico go out with her, Jason, Thalia and Percy
> 
> He and Percy get ice cream and talk about stuff

“You want a Coke or something?” Hazel asked as Nico sat on the bed that was now his. 

 

“Sure.” Nico hummed, he laid down on the bed, running his hands over the soft material of his comforter. Hazel had said that it was black, which was in his favor, because he liked everything to be black, especially his clothes so he always knew what he was wearing matched. The most colorful thing he owned was his socks, and who the hell cared if those matched or not? He certainly didn't.

 

“I have diet, caffeine free, lime-”

 

“Just the regular one.” He said, a smile tugging at the sides of his mouth in amusement, she always went to such lengths to make sure he was comfortable and happy. He didn't think that a better sister had ever existed, except maybe Bianca. But Hazel was just as good in her own way.

 

He heard the mini fridge close and Hazel walk across the room, he sat up and accepted the ice cold Coke that was pressed into his almost equally cold hand. He liked the sound that it made when he opened it, the crack of metal was so descriptive he didn't need eyes to see what it looked like slapping together and popping open.

 

“Thanks,” he let the rich, cool liquid run down his dry throat, he cleared it stiffly afterwards.

 

“So I was thinking,” Hazel began, and Nico prepared himself for whatever social outing she wanted him to attend. “Jason and Percy wanted us all the go out to this place in town. The food is really good. And cheap.” Cheap, cheap was good, they were high school students living off the money their parents sent them, cheap was great. Their parents might have all been rich (unless you got in on scholarship or something. He had learned that was the case of Leo, who had grown up in a orphanage until he was taken out by his birth father who had been looking for him for years.) but it wasn't like the money they were getting was all that much, especially for constantly hungry and bored teenagers.

 

Nico weighed his opinions. One, he could say no and go threw Hazel’s-their food cabinet and mini fridge and have snacks instead of dinner or Two, he could go out with Hazel and her big, loud group of friends and have a actual dinner. Again, surrounded by a big, loud group. 

 

“Mm, No.” he said.

 

“It’ll be fun!” Hazel insisted. “Come on, it's not even the whole group. It would just be me, you, Percy, Jason and Thalia. All the others have a test in Pre-Calculus on Monday.”

 

“I’m not gonna have to take Pre-Calculus right?”

 

“Judging by the fact you haven't past a math test since fifth grade, no. You, Percy, Jason, Thalia and I all take Business Math. Its basically just really, really advanced basic math.” Hazel said, he could tell she was smiling.

 

“Good, because I would happily suddenly be unable to read braille if I had to take Pre-Calculus.” Hazel laughed, probably thinking he was being sarcastic. For once, he wasn't.

 

“So are you coming?” She was probably pouting.

 

“Uh….”

“Come on! You haven't met Thalia yet and Percy and Jason are really nice! Please please please please-”

 

“Fine.” he said quickly, not wanting to hear her insistant begging for a moment longer. “But you have to tell me when because I have to take my Xanax a half an hour before hand .”

 

“We’re going in an hour!” Hazel said, all excitement and prep, Nico often wondered how they were related, going on attitude towards life alone. Though to be far, life had given Hazel a fairly better hand, like proper social skills and normal temperament. All he got was blindness and a anxiety disorder, go figure.

……..

“And Zoe put the teams practice on Thursday at three, even after I specifically asked her not to because I have a date with Luke at three thirty, so I said-”

 

“Thalia no one cares.” Jason said.

 

“Hazel cares.” Thalia said.

 

“I do! Octavian does the same thing to Frank everytime we have a date planned and its so annoying and-”

 

Nico zoned his sister out and continued to pick at the bowl of chicken alfredo in front of him. It was pretty decent, but nothing like what his mother used to make, for one thing the pasta was too thick for the taste to be probably spread and the chicken pieces were too big for proper chicken to sauce ratio. 

 

“And I swear those assholes just get together to plan our fucking misery because they have no joy of their own in life-” Thalia was ranting loudly from across the table.

 

“Oh my god,” Jason whispered in exasperation. “Percy come with me across the street to get some stamps, I need to mail my dad some stuff tomorrow.” he felt the table jossle as those bastards went to leave him alone in this endless agony.

 

“Nico you wanna come?” What? That wasn't Jason...that was-

 

“I dont have my stick.” he said, thoroughly regretting leaving his walking stick behind in dorm room.

 

“I’ll lead you.” Percy offered kindly.

 

Well then.

 

“Um.” he said. Okay, lets look at your opinions here Nico, you can either stay and listen to Thalia and Hazel gossip for the next hour or you can hang onto the elbow of your sister’s dyslexic, hyperactive friend and walk across the street with him and golden boy Grace.

 

“Sure.” he decided finally. He got up and after a moment of shuffling, his hand was tucked into a warm, strong muscled arm and he was being led out of the restaurant, he hoped to god someone had thrown some money down before walking out. 

“So what were you saying about your dad?” Jason said to who he assumed was Percy.

“Yeah so like I was saying-be careful Nico theres the curve-he’s gonna let me bring out the yacht in a couple of weeks before the water gets too cold and I was thinking, you know how he has that dock up in the Cape, that we could go on the yacht up there and spend a weekend there or something. Wanna come Nico?”

“What?” he said, blinking in surprise.

“On the yacht to Cape Cod,” Percy’s voice was so open and sweet it nearly broke his heart to tell him how absolutely stupid that was. It didn't break it enough though.

“You plan on taking a blind person out into the middle of the ocean?”

“Well technically its just the cost, we would cross over to Connecticut from my fathers docks here and then follow the coast up from Connecticut to the beginning of the Cape. I’m thinking Hyannis, its were Kennedy grew up you know.”

“I’m not stupid, thanks.” Nico found himself saying. He heard Jason mutter something and then listened as he scurried away, then heard the tingle of a door chime go off.

“I wasnt saying you were stupid, I just didn't know if you knew that, I mean I went to the Cape a lot so I guess I just get excited about talking about it and-”

“Nevermind.” Nico insisted, feeling his cheeks flush. “I didn't-that was rude of me. Sorry.”

Like Hazel, Nico just somehow knew that Percy was smiling at him. “Oh thats alright, I’m a big boy, got tough skin and all that, wanna get ice cream? My treat? Come on Hazel says you love dark chocolate ice cream with marshmallow sauce drizzle.”

Nico found that he couldn't disagree when Percy wanted something. Mostly because if Percy went somewhere Nico was tugged along, so they left poor Jason at the post office and walked up the street for ice cream. Nico was handed a cone that was indeed covered in melted marshmallow sauce on top of the most delicious dark chocolate ice cream he had ever tasted.

“So your father owns a yacht?” he asked nervously, trying to make conversation, awkward silences were never his favorite thing.

“Mm? Oh yeah he owns a few companies that sell speed boats and yachts, he owns a cruise line and a bunch of aquariums and has a bunch of horse riding camps and stables all over the east coast.” he could feel that silly grin again. “And my mom’s a writer, she writes romance novels.”

“Really?” Nico perked up. “Anything I would know?”

Percy grinned down at him. “You read romance novels?”

Nico could feel himself go crimson. “I mean-”

Percy let out a deep, attractive chuckle. “No its alright, I read them too, I’m kind of her editor before editing. Um she’s written Sophie’s Dream, The Choice I Made, Levi, Side Connection and School Yard Memories. 

“HOLY HELL YOUR MOM IS THE AUTHOR OF LEVI!”

Percy laughed in delight“Yeah She’s super proud of it, its my favorite.”

“Your mom is Sally Jackson.” 

“Yeah!” 

“Okay I’m about to say something and its gonna sound so weird but I love your mom! She always makes sure theirs books in braille that come out the same day the books are released.” Nico was very aware of the fact he was gushing, his cheeks warm as he beamed in delight. Usually when he was interested in a book he had to special order it and it would take days for him to get, she was the only author who always had braille books already put out there, sold ride along side her English versions the first day. 

Percy laughed. “I’m gonna have to tell my mom I go to school with her biggest fan.”

“You wouldn't dare.”

“Alright alright,” Percy said with a grin. “So what about your parents?”

Nico’s mood immediately dropped, he turned his eyes down to the ground, worried what his face would reveal. "well my mom died when I was little.”

“Oh god I’m sorry I didn't-”

“No no its alright,” Nico said, he took a moment to collect his thoughts and finish his ice cream. “I just uh, would rather not talking about it. Um, my step mom co owns this gardening company with her mom, and my dad owns a bunch of funeral homes and morgues in New England.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Hasn't Hazel told you this before? I don't really like talking about my parents.”

“She doesn't talk about anyone at home but you. Sorry I asked.”

“Its alright.” Nico said, but he wasn't alright, he could feel a headache coming on, a feeling of anxiety building in his belly at the thought of the last time he had seen his mother. “Could you take me back to my sister please?” he muttered as he grew more anxious, he was eager and in need for a familiar touch, not that Percy’s warm side wasn't comforting, it just wasn't familiar and he suddenly remembered his disliking for being touched by strangers. 

He also remembered what could happened when you went off with strangers when you were blind.

He tried not to think about it.

“Yeah, sorry.” Percy said, his voice was no longer playful and friendly, but stiff and distant.

Percy brought him back to the restaurant in silence with Nico wondering every step of the way of what he had done wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is short but i wanted a update for you guys would have been longer but i wanted to give you all a little something

Nico was late for class. And he couldn't find his sister. Hell, he couldn't find anyone. He considered calling out for help, but he was also mostly positive that he was standing in the middle of a hallway that was littered with classroom doors that held dozens and dozens of students inside of them. He would rather climb to the top of the building and throw himself off then have people pitying the lost blind kid. 

He wanted to be mad at Hazel, he did, but he found that he couldn't. It wasn't her fault he had wondered off. Well, really he hadn't wondered off. He had refused to hold his sisters hand so he was just standing next to her....and got lost in the crowd, he just felt the wall and kept walking until he didn't hear students anymore and the bell went off. 

So he continued to wonder around the halls, hands running over the braille under the room number. 301,303,305,307-.....gods dammit, he was supposed to be in room 547 for Creative Writing how did he end up in the three hundreds. 

"Nico?"

He turned, startled. "P-Percy?"

"Yeah," his voice didn't sound as withdrawn and distant as it had the other day when they had gone to get ice cream, he didn't sound exactly cheerful. . Maybe a little concerned.

"Are you alright?"

"Um....yeah." He said, running a hand threw his hair nervously.

Percy was quiet for so long he almost thought he had walked away and left him there.

"Nico."

"Mm?"

"You have no idea where your going, do you?" If Percy wasn't such a cool guy Nico would have thought he was mocking him. Or maybe he really was and Nico was just fooling himself.

"Basically, yeah." Good social skills Nico, high five, good job. 

"Isn't Hazel supposed to be showing you around?" Yup his voice was definitely concerned. God, Nico wanted to die. 

"We got separated." Nico admitted, he could tell he was flushing, probably a bright rose read that the bacteria living on Mars could see it. And were laughing. Just like Percy was on the inside. 

"Oh." Percy paused. "Wheres your class? I'll take you there, your sister must be worried sick," Percy was smiling at him, probably a soft and kind one, wanting to help out the poor kid with the disability. 

"547." He said. "Um...do you know where that is-"

"547?" Percy laughed. "Nico all you have to do is go down this hall and take the corner going right, I was um...kinda skipping, but I'll take you there." he felt Percy latch their arms together like he had before and led him down the hallway. He couldn't help but lean into Percy's side a little as they walked, though he hoped he didn't notice. He was just so warm, and strong, it made him feel safe, like his mothers hugs used too.

good job thinking about your mom while your with the guy you like, that's so romantic Nico, yeah that's what normal people think about. 

"So um...what class is 426?" He asked, Hazel hadn't gotten around to telling him the order of his classes yet, just the room numbers and making sure he had all of his braille books in his bag in order, besides 547 which he knew was Creative Writing.

"Ancient Greek Legends and Mythology." Percy sounded like he was smiling. "Its my favorite class. Hey, is that next period?" 

"Um, yeah."

"Cool then," Percy let out a little laugh. "We already have one class together." 

"Do you have Creative Writing?" Nico asked curiously as they made the turn.

"Yeah, sixth period right after lunch. Its not really my thing usually, but my mom though it was interesting so I decided to take it, and its the one class besides AGLM that I don't skip." 

"What class do you have now?"

"Chemistry," Percy said. "I suck at Chemistry."

"I love Chemistry." Nico said honestly. "Its the one science I'm actually really good at. And anything involving animals."

"You should take Oceanology then," Percy replied, excitement making his voice edgy. "I took my freshman year, it was fricking awesome, I just wish I could take it again but it was my elective and I got a A and you can only take it again if you fail. But now I'm taking Zoology, its the second best thing."

"Oceanology is on my schedule," Nico admitted. "Just not sure when....or where."

"I'm sure Hazel will take you." Percy muttered.

"She told me she might not be able to take me to every class." Nico murmured back, they had stopped walking to Nico guessed they had now reached the classroom, but he didn't hear a knock and to him it seemed like Percy was making a effort to be quiet.

"Then I'll take you."

Nico was shocked for a moment. Percy? Walk him to class? Was it a prank? a trick? was he going to do to Nico what those kids had done to him when he was in middle school? he shook his head at the though, bad memories and bad voices surfacing, and he didn't want to deal with it at the moment, especially if this could be a good thing, a step forwards to Percy.

"Oh," he whispered. He was blushing, yes he was definitely blushing, Percy could probably see it, he was probably staring at it. "No you don't have to do that."

Percy snorted, it was a cute noise. "Like I'm gonna let you wander around by yourself," Percy sighed. "I'll have Hazel give you my number, just call me whenever alright? You have Siri don't you?"

"Yeah," Nico said, his face twisting in distaste. He hated Siri, she always managed to mess up his command in some way or another. Call Hazel. Fall Fazel? No such thing in the database, he would have vengeance on that machine one day, he swore he would. "Sure that's-thank you." he stammered, blushing even deeper, he probably looked like a idiot.

"Welcome." There was the knock and....that was the bell.

"Never mind." Percy tightened his grip on his arm and ran with him around the corner, not that it mattered anyways, class was over. They started walking again, not exactly running,much faster then they had been before, like relaxed sprinting, like Percy was calmly trying to haul ass away from something. 

"Got your book?"

"Yup."

"Know your Greek Legends?"

"Yup."

"Then your ready for the best class ever." Percy chuckled and he was pulled gently threw a door way. "Hey Hermes!" he heard Percy said.

"Its Mr Hermes to you kid!" a bright, amused voice responded.

"How are the kids doin?" Percy continued, grinning at his teacher, his grip on Nico's hand tightened as he dragged the short teen to the back of the class to the seat that was always empty, the one right next to his own, he sat Nico down and left the boy there to take out his book as he sat on his desk and faced his teacher.

Hermes snorted as he finished up grading a paper. "You see them as much as I do, so you can tell me."

Nico was confused, Percy could probably tell my some look he was making because. "Hermes is Luke's dad. And Travis and Conners dad, they all go to school here for free because he works here."

"Gotta make sure the boys are well educated." Hermes said, sounding proud of them. 

"You mean you gotta make sure Luke is well educated." Percy muttered softly so only Nico could hear.

"Did you say something?" Hermes asked as he continued to move around the room. 

"Just that I think Nico's gonna love this class!" Percy said brightly. 

Nico laughed softly to himself, but he did wonder about Hermes' other to kids, Travis and Conner, he had heard about them a few times in pacing from Hazel and had thought he heard someone say something about the 'stolls' when he was lost and looking for his class, Stoll was apparently their last name and considering the prank they had pulled, it was probably fitting for them. Did Percy mean to say that Hermes only cared about Luke? or did it mean Luke just needed more of a push then his brothers? Or was he just over reading things? He did that a lot, because he couldn't see actions or facial expressions he often thought to much of peoples words.

The class was good, he knew Hazel wasn't in this class with him but Percy told him she had texted him and the rest of their friends when first period had ended, frantically checking if any of them had seen her brother, Percy had reassured her that he had him and promised to bring Nico to his next class, one of the few he didn't have with her. She would have done it herself, but she apparently had class in some other building and would have been late. Reyna had this class with them though, as she came over to say hi and sat down in the seat in front of Nico, she talked with him and Percy (but mostly Percy) until Hermes eventually calmed the class down.

Hermes gave a lesson about the story of Hades and Persephone and the entire time had to stiff his laughter during the entire thing, but he liked it nonetheless. Afterwards Percy asked him what had been so funny, and he told him Hades and Persephone was the name of his father and his step mother, afterwards Percy laughed and little too and told Nico he knew where he was coming from because his fathers name was Poseidon and he often told people he had a evil step brother named Triton. Which he didn't. At least that he knew of. 

Percy was there when he got out of Italian Literature and they walked together to Business Math, where he finally met up with Hazel.

"Nico," she said when she saw him, sounding distressed. "Look I'm so so sorry I lost you this morning, I shouldn't have gone to class without you but I thought you might have made it there and I-"

"No its alright," he insisted, and it was. Really. He got lost, but in the end he got to spend time with Percy, even thought he felt they had both been a little awkward in the beginning after what had happened the other day, but it had became relaxed and rather playful quickly. 

"Really?" Hazel let out a sigh of relief. "Your so sweet, and I'm sorry again. Look you can sit with me and-"

"Actually Hazel," Percy interrupted. "I told Nico he could sit with me, if that's alright?"

Yeah, he definitely had a crush on Percy Jackson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyways, i just wanted to warn you guys there may be Stollcest at some point and if theres not their will be some entertaining side Conner/Octavian, and I think I'm gonna have Alabaster in here at some point to flirt with Nico and I might have Percy like go on a date with Drew which brings out a lot of Nico's insecurity and jealousy so yeah just wanted to run those things by you all


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy and Nico banter playfully and Hazel insists he not sell himself short.

"Hey Percy," Nico began timidly. "Can...Can I ask you a question?"

It was a week later, and he and Percy had gotten much closer...as friends only of course. Nico started to trust him though, so much in fact that he trusted Percy enough to lead him out onto the grounds to sit on one of the benches during lunch time, and even once or twice, he skipped study hall with him so they could just hang around together. Their usual routine was that they would buy stuff from the vending machines or something that was sold wrapped, Percy one hold it all in one arm and lead Nico with the other, they would grab their jackets from their rooms and they would sit down and eat together. And they would talk about everything and anything, really, the exception being Nico's feelings and a few others touchy things like his mother and his sister. He really hoped that one day he would feel safe enough to talk about that with Percy, but for now he couldn't. 

"'Course." Percy said threw a mouth full of food. Nico could here the fine crunch of lettuce. He was probably eating his pre wrapped turkey sandwich. 

"What...what do you look like?" he had been wanting to ask him that for a while. Of course, he didn't care what someone looked like, it was just that...he wanted to make a picture of what Percy looked like, just something, even if it was just colors. He still remembered colors somehow, which he was thankful for, at least sometimes if he thought hard enough he could see something mentally that wasn't black. 

"Huh?" Percy said, which told Nico he was surprised. Or not paying attention. He could never really tell with Percy. "Oh uh....I'm tallish I guess."

"I know," he smiled. "What else?"

"Um...I'm tan, like not orange jersey shore tan like um....been out in the sun a lot tan. And I have black hair, its not long but its not exactly short, like there's a lot of it but its all windswept back and none of it really hangs and uh, I have green eyes. Some people say they're blue, but their not, their kinda in between like-"

"Like the sea?" he offered in a breathless voice, fighting the horrible memories that surfaced with that color.

"Annabeth calls them sea-green, so I guess." Percy said with a chuckle.

"How did you and Annabeth meet?" Nico asked suddenly.

"We went to Camp together when we were kids. Rachel, Thalia and Luke all went too." 

"Who's Rachel?" Nico had to ask, because Percy sounded like he expected Nico to know who she was.

"You havent meet Rachel?" Percy asked. 

"No. Is she Hazel's friend?" 

"Yeah, but mostly my friend. She doesnt really have any classes with any of us, so thats probably why you havent....I'll have to introduce the two of you sometime. She shares a room  
with Juniper so-"

"Who's Juniper?" Nico asked. Gods, how many friends did Percy have? 

"My roommates girlfriend, she's super cool-dude have you met anyone besides Jason, Thalia, Leo, Jason, Annabeth, Piper, Reyna and I?" Percy said like it was the most bizarre thing he  
had ever heard.

"I met Luke the other day," he said. 

"Okay well, you still have to meet he Stolls, their Luke's younger brothers, um, Zoe, Juniper, Rachel, Silena, Beckendorf, Jake, Nyssa, Dakota, Will, Lee-"

"I get it," he said, cutting Percy off with a shaky laugh. "A lot of people with a lot of names. Are you sure they're....nice?" he winced at his own words.

"Nice?" There was a frown in the boys voice. "Of course their nice, why wouldn't they be?"

Nico could feel himself go read in embarrassment as his eyes burned a little in guilt and shyness pared with a great spike of his anxiety. He always got anxious when people asked questions like that, ones that weren't accusative, but sounded like they could be. It always made him feel like he had done something terribly wrong. 

"No I uh I just meant," his eyes were on fire and his breath was hitching and breaking. "I didn't mean to like-"

"Nico," Percy said softly, a warm hand cupped his shoulder. "It's alright, okay? Calm down, you didn't do anything wrong." Nico's breath quickened a little as Percy tugged him so his head rested on his shoulder, he could feel Percy's silken tie up against his cheek, sticking out of his jacket and moving with the light and cold breeze. 

"I didn't mean to like, offend your friends," he muttered, still anxious. "Its just that-"

"Meeting new people makes you nervous," Percy finished for him. "Its alright, okay? You don't have to meet anyone you don't want too." 

"No," Nico insisted, pulling back a little. "Its just....I trust you. So I know whoever your friends with must be just as nice as you are."

"You think I'm nice?" The bastard was grinning for some reason.

He rolled his eyes at Percy, but also at himself because he cant believe he has a crush on a guy who's like this. So goofy and silly and gods. "Percy your like the sweetest guy ever. Dont act like you don't know that." 

"Sweet? Me?" He sounded like a five year old trying to play off that he didn't steal a cookie. "No. Never. I'm a big ole' tough guy."

"Tough guys can be sweet." he disagreed firmly. 

"I'm not sweet!" Percy continued to deny, though Nico could tell he was turning playful. He never thought he would ever like someone who was playful. What was wrong with him? "I'm simply friendly! A super nice guy, whose very cool-"

"Wow!" he intervened. "Dont get ahead of yourself," he teased with a chuckle. 

"Your cold words hurt me, di Angelo they really-" 

"Guys!" Leo's voice broke up their playful banter. "The bell rang like five minutes ago, your gonna be late!" 

"SHIT!"

.......

"So." Nico stopped running his hands over his textbook and moved his head up to show his sister he was listening to her. She had that tone, that tone that Nico didn't trust. Like she was holding in giggles, which never meant anything good.

"What?" he asked.

"You and Percy seem to be really friendly lately." 

He blushed. "Um yeah, I guess we have been. Percy's a really nice guy."

"Dont play with me," his sister giggled. "You have a crush on him don't you?"

"ugh!" he complained. "Dont say that word, you know I hate that word, its just so fricking stupid!" 

"You use that word all the time!" Hazel protested. "You used it when I liked Frank, I KNOW you use that term mentally, you've written it down."

"I know I have." Nico said. "You see what modern culture has done to me? Its horrific, I hate that word, it just doesn't make any sense in that contexts-"

"Dude." His sister interrupted. "Your avoiding my claim!"

"Okay," he admitted, his face burning. "I like him? So what? I bet a million other people at this school like him too." 

"Exactly," Hazel said, obviously frowning a moment later. Her voice was hushed a little, the way someone might speak to a spooked kitten who had ran under the bed. "I mean....Percy doesn't really sleep around, but he isn't a virgin either, so just....watch out, okay? I don't want you to get hurt by him. Or anyone else." 

Nico frown deepened. "I kinda guessed that already." he said. "I'm not gonna...I mean...Percy would never like me back anyways."

"He's bisexual. He could." The fact seemed to make Hazel nervous.

"I'm not good enough for him." Nico muttered. "Percy deserves someone whole. I've only known him for two weeks...but he's a really, really nice guy and...well I wouldn't wanna ruin anything for him by...being the way I am."

"Dont say something like that!" Hazel shrieked, making him jump. She sounded like she was about to cry. "Dont you even-there's nothing wrong with you, do you understand?" he felt her hands grab his shoulders, and she shook him a little. "Tell me you understand!"

"Why?" he found himself asking.

"Because I cant bare the though, okay?" Hazel sniffed. "There's nothing wrong with you, your the PERFECT brother and one of the most terrific people I've ever met ever, in my entire life, Percy would be so lucky to have you! Dont you dare sell yourself short, okay?" She removed a hand to wipe her face. "Plus your adorable." 

"I'm-"

"Say you understand now!" Hazel commanded.

"I understand."

"Good." She sniffed again. "Now put your book away and go to bed, its late."

"Siri told me a few minutes ago it was nine forty five..."

"I said go to bed, young man!" 

"Ugh, fine!" Nico whined. "But your buying me breakfast Saturday!"

"Deal!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i have a lot of ideas for this story...but I'm kinda lacking enthusiasm for updating so...encourage me? A little? 
> 
> I promise the chapters will start getting longer!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy makes a promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i promised the chapters would start getting longer and i kept it on this one, its just slightly over three thousand words but uh, much longer then the former two when i started writing this chapter i had aplan but then Nico and Percy just took me a different direction and I decided to followed

“Hey Nico.”

 

Nico turned in the general direction the voice was coming from-the right-and smiled slightly. It appeared all the things Hazel had said, all the things she had made him think about did not exist when Percy was actually there in front of him. The fact had been well proven to him over the two weeks since she had said it.

 

“Hey, Percy.”

 

“So we’re bringing the yacht out this Saturday, you coming?” Percy asked, clearing smiling.

 

“Is Hazel invited?” He asked.

 

“Duh. So it Frank and everyone else.”

 

“Describe to me what everyone else includes.” He inquired as he finally managed to get his locker open.

 

“Uh, Annabeth, Grover, Juniper, Jason, Piper, Reyna, Leo, The Stoll’s, Thalia, Luke, Rachel, Drew, Mitchell, Malcolm, Will, Jake, Uhhh, I think that’s it. And you and Hazel and Frank, like I said.”

 

“That’s a lot of people.” Nico pointed out as he finally found his Greek book and slipped it into his back.

 

“Big boat.” Percy admitted sheepishly. “Is that alright?”

 

“I guess.”

 

“Nico, seriously, I really  want you to come, is that alright?”

 

He REALLY Wants me to come? His heart did a little happy dance even as a little voice in the back of his head that sounded suspiciously like Hazel chided him for getting excited over something like that.

 

“That’s fine.” Nico said. “But uh…we’re am I sleeping exactly?” He knew Percy wanted to spend at least one night out on the water.

 

“You and Hazel are gonna share one of the cabins, alright?”

 

“Okay.” Nico said, smiling softly. “Thanks Percy.

 

“No problem.” Percy said, sounding completely sincere.

 

“Okay….” Nico said, not sure what to say.  He decided on a joke. A lame one, but a joke nonetheless. “You look nice today.”

 

Thank fucking god Percy laughed. “Thanks,” he said, chuckling. “So do you.”

 

“Ha ha,” Nico said sarcastically. “Very funny.”

 

“No really,” Percy insisted. “You look nice, your hair looks good.” And then reached out to turn it into a hazardous mess.

 

“Gee, thanks.” Nico said.

 

“Alright, Nic, I’ll see you later.” The nickname made his heart jump a little. He had never cared for them much when he was younger and ‘Nic’ which sounded like Neek was kinda strange sounding, but he found himself having a mini heart attack every time Percy said it none the less.

 

Maybe Hazel was wrong.

 

Maybe this trip would be the time something other than friendly banter would happen between them. It wasn’t very likely but he could hope couldn’t he?

 

…….

 

Nico knew who Drew was from hanging out with Reyna. She was probably the person he was closest to at the school besides Percy and Hazel. What he knew was that Drew was a huge grade A bitch who bullied everyone and slept around quite a bit, in fact, she was what had gotten in the way of her former relationship with some guy named Octavian. Reyna had a white rage for that girl and so did Piper, Jason’s girlfriend, even though Nico didn’t talk to her as much. Hazel also didn’t like her, she never said anything, but he could just tell why the tone she used whenever she came up.

 

Comparing her Percy’s other friends, he didn’t know why she was being invited and really he didn’t care all that much. He had dealt with plenty of mean people in his life and he knew how to handle them well enough. Ignore them or out sass them, and he was good at doing both. But for Drew he knew the best way to deal with her was to ignore her, more for the fact she was Percy’s guest than anything else.

 

Nico had met all the other guests one at a time over the last few weeks, the Stoll’s, Jake, Will, Grover, Juniper, Mitchell and Malcolm.

 

The Stoll’s were down right fucking hilarious and well, they made him nearly fall to his knees they had him laughing so hard at one point. They seemed to like Nico too, especially because he deemed difficult to pick pocket. It was a horrible hobby of theirs, Travis had laughed, even though they gave everything back. Usually. Or at least they promised to give Nico his stuff back.

 

Malcolm just so happened to be Annabeth’s twin brother, they had the same eyes and hair color or so Percy had said they did. He met Mitchell at the same time, who was apparently a cousin of Pipers, they were dating and as far as Nico could tell they were pretty cute together.

Jake and Will were also a couple. Jake was a pretty friendly guy though a little socially awkward. Nico could relate to that, which was probably why he liked the boy so much. Will was a musician; he played the guitar, the piano, the cello, the violin and on top of that was extremely nice.

 

Percy had introduced Rachel to him one day they had been waiting for Hazel outside of her Elements of Art class. ‘Cool’ was the single word to describe Rachel. She was laid back and pretty chill and offered to teach Nico how to paint. Apparently she herself was influenced by several blind artists that Nico had never heard the names of but Rachel insisted they existed.  Nico wasn’t sure how that was possible but had considered taking her up on her offer. She was nice to be around, even though she and Percy had previously dated when they were younger.

 

Grover however, was probably the most adorable guy Nico had never met and he didn’t even know what he looked like. He was extremely friendly and nice even though he was also a little jumpy and jittery, very passionate about the environment and recycling and was a very big spokesperson for vegetarianism which Percy giggled openly laughed, he swatted at the boy in Grover’s defense and made the guy laugh so hard he cried because he missed by at least four feet. Juniper was much like Grover except much calmer and somehow much more gentle and sweet, not that Grover wasn’t. She just had a very loving nature about her that Nico really liked.

 

He had met everyone but Drew the day he went on Percy’s dad yacht. He was wearing his favorite black sweater, chosen for its warmth and softness, a gray pea coat, or so Hazel swore it was, and a very long, very comfy black scarp that shielded him against the winds of the Long Island shores. But he didn’t really care, even when she heard her high pitch voice drawl from the other side of the room,

 

“Are you sure it was a good idea to invite the health hazard? That’s a lot of worthless paper work if he falls over.”

 

“Shut up, Drew.” About twenty voices snapped at her at once, including Percy’s. It made him heart warm, the fact he would stand up to one of his supposed friends for Nico’s sake.

 

“Yes,” Nico said softly. “It would be worthless paperwork wouldn’t it? Especially if I accidentally dragged someone down with me.”

 

There was  dead silence, but Nico didn’t feel intimidated even though he had promised himself to just ignore Drew.

 

Oh no Nico let’s just throw that all out the window and replace it with fucking death threats.

 

“I think I wanna marry you.” Reyna said as the Stoll’s and Leo started cracking up.

 

“Please, he’s almost to gay to function!”

 

“Did you just quote Mean Girls?” Piper giggled. “Jesus, Drew, you really are losing your game.”

 

Drew scoffed. “Shut up, McLean. Nico,” she said his name in a honey sweet tone, like a mother cooing to her baby. “Is simply a worthy competitor.”

 

Nico snorted and locked his arm in his sisters, giving it a little squeeze like _okay im done now retreat. Retreat._ Hazel hummed in acknowledgment and walked them forward a few paces.

 

“Hey Perce, where’s our cabin?”

 

“Right under the deck my lady,” Percy said, taking on a suave big and bad important ship captain tone. Nico was just glad he didn’t start talking like a pirate, he didn’t think he would have been able to resist the urge to laugh at him. “It has been marked by the maids.”

 

“I’m not your fucking maid, dude.” Leo said.

 

Percy gasped and Nico heard flesh slapping flesh. “Do not take upon that language. There are delicate ears on board.”

 

“Shut up, Percy,” Nico laughed, knowing he was talking about him. Despite his best efforts Percy sometimes acted as if Nico was more delicate then the others. Treated him like he was a little kid who shouldn’t be sworn around and often covered his ears if any of the eyes were talking about their sexual escapades. Though it does trouble him because he wondered if Percy was acting like that because Nico was blind or because he truly was just another kid to Percy.

 

“Never, fair maiden. Now go to your slumbers and rest your pretty little face.”

 

“Call me a maiden again and I’ll castrate you.” He warned as Hazel laughed loudly and started guiding him down below deck.

 

“Eye, eye Captain.”

 

Oh no.

 

The horror.

 

…..

 

“And ladies and gentlemen if you’ll turn your heads straight ahead you’ll see Connecticut’s coast line in the distance, see that straight black line? Yeah, that’s it, right there. And for those who can’t see it well, you’re not missing shit Nico; I’m just trying to keep them busy.” Percy was steering the ship and using the loud speakers on bored to entertain them. Nico laughed softly and crossed his legs; he was sitting with Percy on the top closed in deck where all the controls are.  The others were either mulling around the decks or making themselves at home in their cabins.

 

“That’ll  make them feel special,” Nico chuckled, leaning back against the velvet couch that was attached to the wall.

 

“Ah, they’ll get over it.” Percy said.

 

“I’m not sure, Percy,” he said, keeping his tone as serious as possible. “Maybe they won’t be, maybe they’ll be permanently scarred, what will you do then?”

 

“Tell them to get over it.” Percy said more firmly.

 

Nico laughed again. He wasn’t used to it. Laughing. He hasn’t laughed all that much for the last four years but when he’s with Percy it’s like he can’t stop, he just makes him happy, makes him more of the little boy who always giggled and smiled for any reason at all.

 

“You have a great laugh,” Percy said. “You should do it more often.”

 

“I sound like a hyena!” he disagreed threw his giggles of mirth.

 

“Exactly!” Percy said, laughing himself. “That’s why it’s so great!”

 

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

 

“Yes it does!” Percy insisted. “I mean who needs dumb attractive laughs or just normal ones? Your laugh is hilarious and dorky and endearing and shit I’d much rather listen to your hyena call then Drew’s wicked witch of the west cackle.”

 

“Hyena call?” Nico chortles, wiping a tear from his face, his stomach hurts. Percy’s making him laugh so hard he swears he was getting hysterical. And that is just not okay because he knew he was gonna make a complete fool of himself any second now.

 

“I love hyenas!” Percy laughed. “They’re very underappreciated animals, Nico, really. They’re adorable and the sound they make _holy shit_ , I might keep you around just for that.”

 

“Wow!” Nico said, calming a bit. “Good to know I’m being loved for me.”

 

Percy chuckled softly and Nico thanked the high heavens and ever angel is mother ever told him the name of for not letting his laughter get any worse than it had been. If Percy had thought he had sounded like a hyena then he would have thought Nico sounded like a dying whale if things had progressed.

 

“Dude, do you want a sandwich from my super-secret stash!” Percy inquired, Nico heard him move across the room and stop somewhere near to his left.

 

“ _Super-secret stash?_ There’s sandwiches in the mess hall.” Nico snorted, he knew because Hazel had been badgering for him to eat one.

 

“Yes but these are sandwiches in the captains quarters!” Percy grinned, Nico heard a fridge door open and close and felt something land next to him.

 

“Yes, so they’re so special,” Nico drawled sarcastically as he tore open the plastic and hesitantly brought it up to his mouth. He sniffed at it lightly, trying to get a clue of what it was before he put it in his mouth. He smelled cheese and mayo and could feel the soft bread and the lettuce.

 

“What this?” he asked.

 

Percy understood the question thankfully. “Turkey.”

 

“My favorite.” Nico said innocently as he took a soft bite.

 

“Mine too.”

 

_Okay Nico calm down you will not get all happy go lucky because you both like fucking turkey sandwiches, tones of people like turkey sandwiches; it’s not a big fucking deal._

_Yes, brain but that’s something we have in common._

_So your gonna bond over turkey sandwiches?_

_Give me a break brain!_

_Are you actually talking to yourself right now?_

_Maybe! I mean…yeah. Alright, stopping now._

“Are you talking to yourself back there, kid?” Percy asked with obvious amusement, he sound like he was talking around a mouthful which Nico found strangely adorable.

 

“Did I say anything out loud?” Nico asked anxiously.

 

“Nah, but you just have that expression I get when I do it,” Percy said threw a big grin, swallowing his food.

 

_See he does it too?_

_Shut up he’s talking!_

“How do you know what you look like when you talk to yourself?”

 

Percy shrugged and grinned. “Annabeth told me. Apparently I do it a lot. Do you do it a lot too?”

 

“Um. It’s a new thing.” Nico said reassuringly. “Well not a new new thing I mean it’s not like I just started today like it’s a couple of years old? But if it’s a couple of years old does it even count as being new like-“ Percy’s laugh made him break off, he was sure his face was as red as….as red as…what was red again? When had he forgotten what red looked like? He had been so careful to remember…

“Percy,” he said, his voice breaking a little.

 

Percy immediately dropped his cheerful mode and sat down next to him. “What’s wrong? Was it something I said?”

 

“No,” he whispered. “I just….I just…I forgot what red looks like.”

 

Percy was silent for a long time, so much in face he almost forgot he was there and jumped when he felt him take his hand and rub his thumb comfortably across his knuckles.

 

“Hey,” he whispered softly. “It’s alright, okay? You don’t have to remember what red looks like.”

 

“But I want too.” Nico whispered, sounding like a child. Something sweet and innocent, someone hurt that should in no way be hurt. Ever. Or in Percy’s opinion at least.

 

“Then I can try to help you remember.” Percy whispered, entwining their fingers.

 

“Tell me what’s red, Percy.” Nico insisted, he curled his legs up on the couch and leaned into Percy a little but the boy didn’t seem to mind, instead with his free arm he wrapped it around Nico’s shoulder and held him a little closer, rubbing his bicep gently.

 

“Strawberries are red, the sunset is red, apples, the couch, my shirt, your gloves, sometimes the leaves are bright red in the fall and for a moment the sky is too when the sun is setting. Remember?”

 

Nico let out a shaky sigh and nodded lightly. He remembered, just a little bit when he thought about it really hard.

 

“Um, the day I met you your shoes were red, roses are red, raspberries are red sometimes, and grapes, that’s a kind of red. Christmas flowers are red, Clifford is red, that big as hell dog, did you remember watching that when you were little?”

 

“’I think so.” Nico whispered. “His collar was black wasn’t it? I remember that. I remember black because that’s all i-“

 

“Shh,” Percy whispered. “Don’t think about that. Tomatoes are red, those are in your sandwich I gave you. Um, Doritos bags are red, -part of the American flag is red, the Chinese flag is red, your Italian right?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Part of that flag is red. And the Mexican flag and uh….Iron Man’s suite is red and Thor’s cape and uh….Rachel’s hair is red and bell peppers are red and hot sauce is red and JuJu fish are red,” Percy hesitated a moment, his breath hitching. “Your lips are red.”

 

“I….what?” He said.

 

“Your lips. Are red. Always are, have I ever told you you look like a male Snow White?”

 

“What?” he repeated, a flush taking over his face again. He tried to detect weather or not Percy was making fun of him but he sounded perfectly sincere.

 

“Your skin is snow white and your hair is ebony and your lips are rose red, like they say in the beginning of the story remember? I think it says that in the Classic story and in the Disney movie.”

 

“Yeah. I remember.” Nico said. He remembered red again, yeah that’s it, that was red, that really warm, nice color that Bianca always wore no matter the season. He remembered a time when he was little and he had come outside to see Bianca lying in the snow with her red winter coat, looking like a single red rose in a field of white ones.

 

“Are you afraid?” Percy asked softly.

 

“Of what?” Nico said, though he already knew what Percy meant..

 

“Of forgetting the colors.”

 

 

Nico took a deep breath. “I’m afraid of forgetting what everything looked like. But especially that.”

 

“I won’t let you forget.” Percy insisted.

 

“You can’t promise something like that.” Nico said, shaking his head and moving back from Percy a bit.

 

“Yeah I can,” Percy whispered. “I won’t let you forget.” He promised again.

 

Nico didn’t know what to say, so he just said.

 

“Thanks, Percy.”

 

Because it meant more than Nico could say.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The yacht ports in Cape Cod, and Nico learns things about Percy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven’t updated this in roughly five months and I am the scum of the earth because of it please forgive me.

The came into port at a town called Hyannis at the beginning of Cape Cod at about eight in the morning. The air smelled like sea salt and sea weed. It wasn’t Nico’s favorite smell, but it wasn’t all that unpleasant either. Percy seemed to love it, because as soon as he was on open dock he took a huge whiff and sighed in pleasure.

“Love it.” He exclaimed just as Drew complained loudly about the reek of dead fish nearby. Percy was the one to lead Nico off the boat and down the docks.

“My dad owns these docks,” Percy said as they walked, the group trailing behind them. “So it’s just us and some fishing boats.”

“It seems nice,” Nico said. He couldn’t see anything, of course, but the smell wasn’t all that unpleasant, the wind had a nice chill and he could hear the waves rolling onto a shore somewhere off into the distance. He had been to Cape Cod many times in his life and to many different towns and beaches, but he had never been to Hyannis before, though he did think they had passed threw it once or twice. 

“Yeah, but where staying at the hotel.”

“Hotel?” Nico repeated, a little confused as to why they would be staying in a hotel when they had a perfectly fine yacht to sleep in.

“Well, it gets chilly at night, right?” Percy asked, and continued before he could answer. “My dad already booked us rooms at the Hyannis Harbor Hotel, it’s awesome, and we always stay there when we come up from Long Island. And by we, I mean my mom and I, but dad always paid for it. And we can go swimming!”

“Swimming,” Nico repeated, nose crinkling up in distaste. Swimming wasn’t all that fun when you couldn’t see anything. “Wont the water be freezing?”  
“Yes.” Percy laughed. “I didn’t mean the ocean; I meant the enormous indoor pool and Jacuzzi.”

“Oh.” Nico considered that. “Well that sounds much more sensible.” 

“Indoor pools are useless.” Drew scuffed as she walked passed. Nico could hear her pulling along her huge piece of luggage, they would only be there for the weekend, but for some reason Drew thought it was fitting to bring her entire wardrobe. 

“She’s just mad she can’t show off all her goods to a thousand people.” Leo said, suddenly appearing at Nico’s side. “This place is pretty much deserted this time of the year.”

“Don’t be mean, Leo.” Juniper said serenely. “She can show her body as she pleases.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s not legal to go topless at public beaches, Jun.” Leo replied. 

“That only happened once.” Juniper said fairly.

“It was twice.” Leo corrected her. “And it was horrible. Children were screaming, marriages were being torn apart, Will was repeatedly slapping Jake.” 

“It wasn’t that bad.” Juniper sighed, though she sounded like it really was that bad.

“Not that bad?” Leo repeated. “The cops were called! She almost got arrested, and so did we just for being with her!”

“How did she get out of it?” Nico asked, totally transfixed by the story. He had never witnessed such a thing before. 

“We called Percy’s dad and he arranged a few things.” Leo snorted. 

“Why would he care if she got in trouble, though?” Nico asked curiously.

There was a rather pregnant pause that only furthered his confusion. Juniper cleared her throat slightly. “Well, she’s Percy’s friend and everything, and he didn’t want her to get in trouble with the cops.”

“Yeah.” Leo agreed, but his voice sounded a little odd, Percy didn’t say anything, and instead walked them more quickly down the dock, leaving the others behind. 

“My dad rented some cars for us too; do you want black or blue Mercedes?”

“You have got to be kidding me.” Nico said, shaking his head.

“No way, dude, I’m totally serious. My dad has like a million cars.” Percy said offhandedly. 

“How?” Nico wanted to know.

“Long story.”

“I have nothing but open ears.” Nico said, making Percy laugh. 

“Alright, alright.” Percy sighed. “So you know Jason and Thalia right?”

“Yes, Percy, do you not remember me meeting them?”

“Right, stupid question, anyways their dad, Jupiter, he’s kind of a business partner of my dad’s. He owns some companies that make the stuff the cars are made out of, and because he’s the maker of these materials he gets one or two of the cars for free every time they come out with a new model. Jupiter specializes in airplane parts though, and likes them better, so most of the time he’ll give at least one of the cars to my dad as a peace offering.”

“Peace offering?” Nico asked.

“They do business together, but they fight a lot, so giving each other gifts is how they make up and continue with life like big boys. When I was younger I spent a lot more time with my dad, and so did Thalia and Jason. Our dads would throw us together when they talked to one another when they were having business meetings, and that’s how we all got to know each other, their my oldest friends.” Percy said, a hint of fondness in his voice.

“Aw,” Nico said before he could help himself. “But why did you fathers bring you to the office? That’s not really a place for kids.”

Percy was quiet for a moment. “Well, to use the correct term, Jason, Thalia and I are bastards.”

“What?” Nico asked in confusion. 

“My mother wasn’t married to my father and still isn’t, and neither was Thalia and Jason’s mother. They cheated on their wives with our mothers, who didn’t even know they were married. Our step-mothers hated the sight of us and wouldn’t allow us in either of their houses, so if our fathers wanted to see us they brought us to work.”

It was Nico’s turn to be quiet. “Oh…Oh, I’m sorry, Percy.”

Percy shrugged. “It’s alright. My mom was heartbroken when she first found out, but she still let my father see me even when they ‘broke up’ and she’s married now. My step-dads a cool guy, much better then Amphitrite, uh that’s my step mother.” 

Nico was just about to tell Percy a bit more about his father and mother when they stopped once again and Percy exclaimed, “Ah there they are!” 

Nico didn’t know exactly what they were looking at, but he was pretty sure it was the cars. “Ah, no Mercedes this time. Oh well, the trucks will do, which color do you want Nico?” 

He considered that. “Blue?”

“Sea Blue!” Percy added he heard someone walking towards them. “Oh, hey Odysseus, you have the keys right?”

“Of course, sir.” The voice was young, and a little annoyed. Nico heard the jingle of a lot of keys as Odysseus apparently handed them over to Percy. 

“Nico this is Odysseus, one of my father’s many assistants. Odysseus this is uh-my friend Nico, he’s blind, so uh-“ Percy grabbed Nico’s hand and put it softly into a rougher and bigger one. He and the young man shared a brief shake and then broke apart. 

“Your father expects the cars-and keys Perseus-back at eight on the morning you leave.” Odysseus told him very sternly, causing Percy to nearly giggle.

“Of course, you know I was just playing that one time.”

“You left the car and took the keys with you all the way to Australia; we had to get it toed.” 

“Dad thought it was funny.” Percy grinned.

“Your father has a questionable sense of humor.” Odysseus sniffed, and then all at once Nico heard gravel crunching and there was no longer a third voice with them.

“He’s a fun guy,” Percy laughed once more and then turned to Nico. “So, are you ready for our Cape Cod weekend adventure?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So things and relationships both past and present were hinted in this chapter, what do you think they were?  
> Comments are my fuel! I’ll try not to make you guys wait so long next time

**Author's Note:**

> so should I continue?


End file.
